Hello, my name is Gemma Pearce and I have two different hats when it comes to research. But as I am just one person, I would really rather just have one hat that I wear all the time.

Professionally, I am a researcher at the Centre for Technology Enabled Health Research (@covuni_CTEHR) at Coventry University in the UK. My research passion is finding out what matters to people with long-term conditions and how best to support them (us!)

​Personally, I am a patient with multiple long-term conditions. Over the last year or so, my health drastically deteriorated as my genetic migraine condition escalated to daily migraine. I couldn’t get out of bed, think straight or lift my head to drink water. Over my long recovery journey (something that is very much still on-going), I have been diagnosed with additional conditions: Ehlors-Danlos Syndrome hypermobility type, Postural Tachycardia Syndrome, Mast Cell Activation Disorder and Histamine Intolerance. These are all conditions that are not well recognised or understood, and so it is very hard to get diagnoses and treatment. It has been a struggle working out how to manage these different but linked conditions into my life and returning to work. I would have loved it if more research had been carried out on these conditions, and I would like to support research so it is better for others in the future.

During this road to recovery, I was asked to write this blog. I wasn’t well enough to do it then, but I am writing it now to say that researchers, and staff more generally such as healthcare professionals, can be patients too.​With my patient hat on, I am currently taking part in research for people with migraine to support self-management and return-to-work. It seems strange that I can either be part of a research project as a researcher or as a patient. I think that as a patient who is also a researcher, I can add valuable insight on both sides. NHS England is running a campaign arguing that staff and patient experience are ‘two sides of the same coin’ (check out @KarenDeeny1). Not only do they affect each other, but they can be the same people. Obviously it is important to have a range of patient representatives as part of the research team, but it would be great if ‘staff-patient’ could be one of them.

I do research because I am a researcher AND a patient. I want to find out how to improve things in the future with all of those involved in the process, so it is something that works sustainably in practice and helps others.

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Introduction to our guest blogs

We are delighted to host guest blogs from our fantastic followers. Blogs come from patients, members of the public & from healthcare professionals. They focus on why people are involved in research, what it means to them and what they would like to see happen in the future of research.

Occasionally, we also host 'Spotlight on...' months - in these months you will see a blog per week from patients, public and staff centred around a specific topic / illness / disease area. We also host a tweetchat on the topic during the same month. Follow #whywedoresearch on twitter to keep up to date with these.

If you would like to guest blog for us, please contact @ClaireW_UK or @keeling_michael via twitter